Homily for Thursday, 26 July 2018– Memorial of Sts. Anne and Joachim, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Thursday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Sirach 44:1, 8, 10-15; Psalm 132:11, 13-14, 17-18; Matthew 13:16-17

When Jesus blesses his disciples, “Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it,” to what is Jesus referring that these righteous ancestors of his disciples did not see or hear?

We might suppose that Jesus is speaking of his own presence in the world, the remarkable event of God taking on human flesh and physically living among us, which his disciples’ ancestors would not have had the chance to experience. But our Gospel does not give us any more detail as to what Jesus’ disciples were blessed to see and hear that their ancestors were not.

On this note, I wonder what the lived experience of Sts. Anne and Joachim, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was. Would they have figured out that God had chosen their daughter Mary for a unique purpose, to bear, raise, and accompany the Son of God as his first disciple, from cradle to cross to heaven? Did Anne and Joachim ever comprehend that, for this purpose of being the Mother of God, Mary had been protected from the moment of her conception from original sin? What would their response have been when Mary became pregnant with Jesus, supposedly by the Holy Spirit? Were Joachim and Anne present at Jesus’ birth? How well, if at all, did Jesus know his maternal grandparents?

Many books, and movies, and even gospel accounts outside the Bible have speculated on answers to these questions, but the Biblical Gospels are silent about Sts. Joachim and Anne.

Still, I think of Sts. Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents, through my experience of my grandparents. I am fortunate to have known three of my four grandparents, one of whom, my dad’s mom, is still living. I remember my grandfather’s— Mom’s dad’s— sense of humour, his pride in being able to be of service even in little ways, his collection of tales and sayings from the army and as-impressive collection of historical books, photos, and Alaska Highway memorabilia! Grandma (on Mom’s side) and I would switch back and forth between French and English as we conversed and read the little newspaper from Grandma’s hometown together. She also made the most exquisite jams from whatever berries we picked from her yard.

My mother’s parents lived a simple life and loved each other profoundly to the end. Dad’s mom, at 92 years old, shows a remarkable ability to adapt to a rapidly-changing world, from farm life growing up, to raising children with my grandfather, who was in the U.S. Air Force, back to the farm, and lately to delighting in her great grandchildren and mastering today’s technologies: “Hey, Google, turn my bedside light on,” or “Hey, Google, tell me about Sts. Joachim and Anne.”

As Louis Armstrong once sang, “I hear babies crying. I watch them grow. They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know. And I think to myself: What a wonderful world.” I imagine Joachim and Anne looking upon their grandson, Jesus, in a similar way with great hope for him and for our world, despite its changes, its challenges, and its troubles. Their hope is reflected in Jesus’ blessing upon his disciples; upon us; upon future generations: “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” Ours is still a wonderful world.

Homily for Sunday, 3 May 2015– Fifth Sunday of Easter

Readings of the day: Acts 9:26-31; Psalm 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8

What does it mean to be connected to something or to somebody? Back in 2001, I went to study in France for the first time. Fourteen years ago, the flip phone was the latest in cellular technology, an increasingly portable way to remain connected. The communications company Nokia ran an English ad in France for its flip phones. At the end of the commercial, a child announced the Nokia slogan proudly in a French accent: “Connecting people”!

Nowadays, what are our ways of “connecting people”? Flip phones have led to smart phones. E-mail has led to Messenger. We have Facebook; Twitter; Linked-In for the more professionally-inclined… Technology has afforded us more ways than ever to be connected to one another. I communicate regularly with my family in Edmonton over Skype, and I am able to “Skype into” faith and Scripture sharing meetings with my brother Basilian priests from as far away as France and Colombia! Social media have become an indispensible tool for ministry, as long as they do not replace physically meeting people we serve.

But with all this electronic technology, is something not still lacking insofar as being connected? Some of us may ask, “What is lacking”? In John’s Gospel today we hear Jesus encourage us to rise to a new standard of being connected. All this technology is good. Actually to meet and speak with other people is better than technology. But Jesus speaks to us about the best way to be connected. What is the best way to be connected both to one another and to God; to Christ?

Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower… I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” What does Jesus mean by all this: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower”? What does it mean to “remain in” Christ and for Christ to “remain in” us? How is Jesus asking us to “bear much fruit”?

We do not need to live on a vineyard to understand well enough what Jesus is saying here. We do not need to leave behind all of our electronic technology that helps us to stay connected to one another in order to gain a better sense of Jesus’ words, although “remain in me and I in” you may sound strange to our ears. No, Jesus speaks to us of how best to live in relationship with one another and with God.

And do we not all understand at least something about relationships? How many of us have a best friend, or a few very good friends? How many of us are married; belong to a religious community; have ever been in love? How many of us have brothers; sisters; parents; extended family whom we love dearly? This past week, speaking of relationships, my parents celebrated their thirty-ninth wedding anniversary. Their relationship of love is a model for me; for my priesthood; for my relationship of love with all of us, the Church, which I try to live out daily.

We understand a lot about relationships already. We are here to celebrate this Eucharist, Jesus Christ really present among and in us. And so we already understand something sacramentally about the greatest of all relationships: Our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our God has given himself to us as a human being, Jesus Christ, one like us in all but sin. Jesus lived among us, died for us, is risen for us, ascended to heaven for us, and now gives himself to us under the form of bread and wine: “This is my body… This is my blood…”

Many of our children here at St. Kateri Parish will receive their first communion; this sacrament of Eucharist for the first time today and over the next few weeks. Children of St. Kateri: Who are you receiving when you receive communion? You receive Jesus Christ. And so you already understand something about relationship with Jesus; with God.

Relationship is like being connected to somebody, but even better. Technology and information help us to stay connected, but being in relationship means something more. Relationship means to love one another. It means to want the best for one another, in the way that God wants the best for us. God wants us to be with him forever. This is why God gave us God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, now still with us in the Eucharist. “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.”

But this “remaining in” relationship with God; Jesus Christ and with one another is hard work. All the technology we have only goes so far. It keeps us connected without necessarily keeping us in relationship. Imagine this: “You have reached Big White Phone Communications Customer Service. For service in English, please press one. For service in Aramaic, please hold the line…”

Relationship, what Jesus asks of us in our Gospel reading today, is more than simply “connecting people”; more than being connected with God. To be in relationship means to keep a delicate balance between forgiveness and accountability. This, I think, is behind Jesus’ talk of pruning his disciples as a vine is pruned; trimmed of its branches that are unhealthy and no longer open to nourishment from the vine. Might pruning away the unhealthy branches seem harsh to us when we compare it to remaining in relationship with God as disciples of Christ? Jesus gives us a harsh saying here. And yet Jesus invites us to be mindful that both forgiveness and accountability; both the health of the branches nourished by the vine and the pruning of the vine require strong relationships; a strong and united community of Christian faith.

Unity; our comm-unity as Christians; as a parish; as a Church leaves no room for a silo mentality in which we become closed off in our own ministries. Christian community leaves no room for gossip. Christian community is not “I-God”; “I-Jesus” but all of us, together, in a relationship of love with one another and with our Lord that bears fruit in a great range of good works. The sacraments all depend on Christian community. They are sacraments of the Church; of community. We are brought into a community of faith by baptism and confirmation. We receive the Lord and become Christ to our world in community through our Eucharist. We are instruments of healing, and forgiveness in community through reconciliation and the anointing of the sick. In community we love and serve through the vocations of marriage and holy orders.

Community is not uniformity; all having the same ideas and never disagreeing with one another. Like the branches that “remain in” Jesus the vine, we might imagine ourselves as grafted onto the vine. Each branch joined or grafted onto the vine and receiving its nourishment contributes different useful characteristics to the plant: Better fruit; resistance to disease… So it is true with our community of faith. Is it not remarkable in our first reading from Acts that, as “the brothers” began to accept Paul after his conversion; as they had already accepted Barnabas (a very different personality with different gifts than Paul), the Church “was being built up and walked in [awe] of the Lord, and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers”?

Christian community, we hear from the First Letter of John, depends on our keeping God’s commandments together. Who enjoys being commanded to do something? Not many of us like to be commanded to do something. But God gives us only two commandments in 1 John: “Believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ” and show the world (together) that we believe by how we act in Jesus’ name: “Love one another just as [Jesus] commanded us.”

“Believe” and “love.” These are whole community actions. “Believe” and “love,” and “remain”: Take in Jesus in the Eucharist and in our other sacraments of the Church; act for one another’s good in the world as Jesus has for us. This is community. This is relationship, not only “connecting people” but being at the heart of the Christian discipleship that Jesus asks of us: “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.”